iBelieve iAm the One
by Annie Barde
Summary: In a world where engagements and weddings are happening left and right, Freddie Benson is surprised when Sam Puckett makes a bold announcement. Determined not to lose the girl of his dreams, he will do anything to stop her from making the wrong choice.


**Hey readers! This is my first iCarly story, and I'm hoping it's a good one. I don't own anything, so don't ask. Just my idea.**

**Hope you enjoy the first chapter.**

**x**

Freddie Benson was confused.

He had just received an e-mail from one Samantha Puckett, the one girl he claimed he would never fall in love with (and yet, he did), who had sent him an e-mail to meet her that afternoon for lunch.

In their past teenage lives, Freddie and Sam weren't the type of people you would call "close friends." They were immature, young, and impossible. They bickered, physically fought, and had no intentions of trying to be civil enough so they could actually become friends. Their best mutual friend, Carly, took her position as peacemaker dutifully, doing anything she could to get them to stop their nonsense.

One night, Freddie had been up on his fire escape outside his apartment, depressed about the whole world knowing he had never kissed a girl thanks to the trio's little webshow iCarly. He was fourteen and ashamed. Sam was the one who had stood up for him on the live broadcast, telling the whole world herself she had never been kissed either, and asked the audience to stop giving him such a hard time about it. It was the nicest thing she had ever done for him, and he saw the whole thing happen.

Sam appeared on the fire escape after the webcast had finished, apologizing for everything she had done to him in the past few years they had known each other. Freddie had never heard her say sorry to anyone before. They had ended up sharing their first kiss with each other that night, and from that moment on, they became just a little closer than they ever had before.

During the last couple years of high school, the iCarly trio had finished their webshow at the end of junior year, when they had decided they needed to move on to bigger and better things. Like the real world. Their friendship had changed slightly since then, and after they all graduated, Freddie was the one who had stayed behind in Seattle, going to school for design.

Carly wanted to give acting a try, so she had to moved to New York to attend NYU, and she was curently happy with her boyfriend of the past two years, Nicholas, who was a film editing major.

Sam on the other hand, had really focused on her senior years to make enough good grades to go into advertising, and studied at The Art Institute of San Diego. As far as Freddie knew, she wasn't seeing anyone.

But then again, it had been awhile since they had last seen each other or talked, which is why Freddie was surprised to see the e-mail from her show up in his inbox. She couldn't possibly be back in Seattle, could she?

Freddie sighed as he hit "Reply," and wondered what he would say...

"To: Sam

From: Freddie

Sam,

Thanks for the invitation, but I'm not going to lunch with you if you're just going to break my heart again.

Love,

Freddie?"

But he had to be realistic here. After all, that was history. So what if she had a boyfriend at the time he was willing to admit how much he cared for her as more than friend? Did he really want to back into all that high school drama? While it was true that Sam had admitted they did have this _thing_ between them, it was far too late, according to her. So they graduated and moved on.

Except Freddie hadn't completely moved on.

Focusing his attention back to his screen, he cringed as he typed,

"Cafe as usual, noon? Smoothies after?

F"

Sam instantly replied,

"Sounds great. I'll be in Seattle for a few days, I have news for everyone. It'll be really good to see you, can't wait!"

Freddie's heart lurched in his stomach.

_Don't fall_, _don't fall_, he kept thinking over and over to himself. _She's over you. It'll just be like old times, no strings attached, no committments_. Not that there were any between them.

He looked over the e-mail again. News?

He sort of chuckled to himself. Graduating early? Unexpected pregnancy? Moving back to Seattle? Any kind of news would be interesting, he had to admit. Sam wasn't the kind of person to share big news to anyone.

"Hey, Freddie." A tall, striking redhead smiled above him. Freddie inwardly groaned. It was his ex, Patricia, who he had dated for a short time in freshman year there at the college.

"Trish!" he said with gritted teeth, standing up to give her an awkward one-armed hug. "It's...great to see you."

"You too! God, it's been ages. How are you?" She lifted a hand to her head, giving him a wide smile. He had forgotten for a split second how gorgeous she actually was. Before Freddie had heard of her reputation as a cheater, hence their split.

"I'm fine," he said calmly, "just finishing up some work. Lots of stuff to do before the big day, you know?"

"Oh, are you getting married?" Trish asked with a false laugh. He had also forgotten what a big airhead she was.

"Um, no," he said, stuffing his laptop into his case, "I was referring to graduation?" How she ever got into an arts school, he would never know.

"Oh," she said, "Right. I have lots to do also, before _my_ big day actually. I'm engaged!" And with that, she showed him the sparkling diamond on her left hand.

"Oh...well...congratulations," he said, a bit shocked at her announcement, "Who's the lucky guy?"

"His name is Mike. Met him here at the library, we've been together for so long. We're planning on getting married after graduation. It's so funny how so many young people our age are getting married these days," she said, more to herself than to Freddie.

Freddie nodded. "Right. Well, it was good to see you, Trish, but I have to run. Um...take care and congratulations again."

"Thanks," Trish said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek, "It was really good to see you Freddie." She gave him a short wave as she walked the opposite direction in the library.

Freddie shook his head slightly as he gathered the rest of his books into his bag, and headed off to the cafe.

* * *

Freddie entered the cafe, scanning the small room for Sam. She hadn't shown up yet. Taking up a table, Freddie sat down, making sure he could see when the door would open.

A waitress came over to the table, presenting him with a menu. "Anything I can get for you?"

Freddie shook his head. "I'm waiting for someone."

The waitress smiled understandably and left. Minutes passed by for what seem like hours when Freddie heard the familiar bell over the door rang as it opened.

A young blonde woman had stepped in, her unruly curls swept into a casual bun, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Sam?" Freddie called to her. She turned around and grinned at him.

"Freddie!" Sam exclaimed, rushing over to him, engulfing him into a hug and a cloud of sweet citrus perfume.

They released each other, smiling, and for a minute, the world had stood still as they got a good look each other.

* * *

An hour and two pieces of apple pie later, Freddie just stared at the girl before him, a smile curving his lips. Sam had caught him staring at her.

"What?" she asked teasingly.

"It's just...you look happy, Sam."

"I am happy," she sighed. "I have some big news for you. Take a deep breath, I don't want you to make fuss, okay?"

Freddie did as he was told and said, "Okay, what's the big news?"

"Freddie..." Sam said slowly. "I'm getting married."

* * *

An hour and a half later, Sam pleaded, "Please say something."

Thirty minutes. It took him thirty minutes to digest this news. She was getting married. Sam was getting married. Sam, the girl who said she never wanted to settle down until she was 35 because she didn't think she would meet someone by 25, and now here she was, announcing her engagement at 22.

Sam was getting _married_.

His life was over.

"It's ironic," he finally stated.

"What's ironic?" Sam asked.

"Remember my ex-grirlfriend, Trish? Who I went out with a few years ago?"

"The redheaded airhead?" Sam nodded, "Yeah, I remember her."

"Well..." Freddie leaned over, lacing his hands on the table, "I ran into her today in the library, caught me by total surprise, and _she _announced that she was getting married. And now," he said, gesturing his hand pointed at her, "_you're _getting married. And next it'll be Carly, Gibby, maybe even Spencer."

Sam laughed. "Oh, come on, Freddie. Any girl would be lucky to have you. You just haven't had luck with girls."

"Sam." Freddie protested.

"Hey, that's a compliment," she smiled at him. "I mean, you went out with Carly. Remember? She has high expectations and somehow you got her to think differently."

"Yeah, only 'cause I saved her _life_," Freddie scoffed. "And that was years ago. We're 22 now, and I don't know, it might be nice to settle down with someone."

"So...any someone, right? Because I know a nice girl down in San Diego who..."

"No." Freddie said flatly.

"Alright, I was just kidding." Sam looked at her watch. "I have to go. Ethan and I have to tell Mom." She rolled her eyes. "That should be _fun_."

"Wait, you haven't told your mom?"

"Naturally," she winked at him as she stood up, slinging her handbag onto her shoulder. "Listen, we're going out tonight. Ethan has friends here he's meeting up with, and we're all hanging out downtown. You should come."

"I don't know, Sam."

"Oh, come on! You're my best friend here. Carly said she'll be catching a flight tomorrow, while we're all still in town, so...please? Think about it?"

He nodded. "Okay, I'll think about it." He stood up and they headed to the door.

"I'll call you later, okay?" Sam said, "Number's still the same, right?"

"Yeah. Still the same." He raised a hand as she smiled at him through the glass of the door.

_Still the same_. _Just like how I still feel about you_.

He was in trouble. The girl of his dreams was getting married and he needed to stop the wedding before it was too late. Just like it was the last time.


End file.
